In 1986 Cessna Aircraft shut down its single engine manufacturing
plant. This was due to the high escalating liability costs. However, with
the General Aviation Revitalization
Act
of 1994 it cleared the way for Cessna to begin manufacturing single
engine aircraft. Wichita, Kansas, November 20, 1996 -- At the 49th Annual
Meeting and Convention of the National Business Aircraft Association, Cessna
announced that its new single engine piston aircraft manufacturing facility
is producing airplanes on schedule. “We are building
the best Skyhawks, Skylanes, Stationairs, and Turbo Stationairs thatCessna
has ever manufactured,” General Manager, Single Engine Piston Aircraft
Pat Boyarski said. “We’re using the most advanced systems available on
the market, and we’re meeting all our timelines.”

The Cessna 172 Skyhawk received its FAA type certificate on June 21. “We began Skyhawk
production at the Independence facility on July 10, shortly after
the grand opening celebration,” Boyarski said. “Then, on schedule on November
6, we rolled the very first Independence-built Skyhawk out of the
factory. Now, we’re preparing the airplane for its January 1997 delivery
to AOPA Airplane Sweepstakes Winner Sharon Hauser.” Also, the 182 Skylane,
206 Stationair, and T206 Turbo Stationair programs have progressed quickly
since beginning production in Independence. “We started building
Skylanes at Independence on September 25,” Boyarski said. “We received
the 182’s type certificate on October 10 and will deliver the first one
to AOPA in February 1997. Our flight-test results on the new engines for
the new Stationair and the Turbo Stationair prototypes have exceeded engineering
expectations, and we are scheduled to begin production on those aircraft
in Wichita in the coming weeks. We’ll start building them in the Independence
facility by late summer 1997.”